"Once again we urge the US side to realize the importance and sensitivity of the Taiwan question, scrupulously abide by its commitments, correct its mistakes and stop actions that advance US-Taiwan relations,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said at a regular press conference held in Beijing.

He was responding to reports that the American Institute in Taiwan had invited several important Taiwanese political figures to its American Independence Day reception that was held on July 3.

The spokesman said China had made solemn representations over this issue to the United States.

"Such action by the American Institute in Taiwan is inconsistent with its status and functions of a non-governmental organization,'' said Kong.

"It constitutes an obvious violation against the three joint communiquis between China and the US and related commitments made by the US.''

As for how to achieve balanced bilateral trade between China and the Republic of Korea (ROK), the spokesman said the subject had been raised in talks between Chinese President Hu Jintao and visiting ROK President Roh Moo-hyun.

China hopes the Republic of Korea will do more to balance bilateral trade as it has multi-billion dollar trade deficit with the ROK, Kong said.

Kong said Roh replied during the talks that the ROK would treat the issue seriously, and hoped to close the gap through close bilateral economic exchanges and cooperation.

Since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in 1992, China's trade deficit with the ROK totaled US$82.4 billion. "The figure is shocking," said Kong.

Statistics show that the trade between China and the ROK grew rapidly in recent years, but the trade gap also enlarged year by year.

In 1992, China's trade deficit with the ROK was merely US$220 million, but the figure topped US$5 billion in 1997, and then hit US$11.92 billion in 2000.

In 2002, the total trade volume between China and the ROK reached about US$44.07 billion, eight times more than 1992. But the trade deficit in 2002 also surged to US$13.07 billion.

Kong said the Chinese government was not asking for an absolute trade balance, and China accepted it had a deficit in its total global trade in the first three months of this year.

"But with such a long-term growing trade deficit of such a huge amount, we hope the ROK side will treat it more seriously," Kong added.

Kong said during the talks on Monday, Hu and Roh agreed to build an "all-round cooperative partnership", which would have a great impact on bilateral ties in fields like politics, economics, science and technology, and education.

The two countries also agreed to push the annual bilateral trade volume to US$100 billion in five years, said Kong.

At yesterday's press conference, Kong also announced a yearbook on China's diplomacy and the international situation in 2002 was published recently.

The book, systematically enunciating Chinese government's foreign policy, stances on the international situation and important international events, is to help Chinese and foreign people fully understand China's foreign affairs, the spokesman said.

(Sources from China Daily and Xinhua News Agency, July 9, 2003)